MLB: The Auction House of Professional Sports

I'm an Orioles fan. Of course I'm bitter. I would think if any fan's team were 7-21 (.250 winning percentage), they'd be a little angry as well.

To look at years past, we've had to play 36 games against the icons of Major League Baseball. That's nearly 20 percent of our games. When any team not named the Red Sox or Yankees starts their season in the AL East, they're already screwed (not so much the Rays, as they are actually in the top spot, but even they have a rough time of it.).

Here's a tidbit for you. The Boston Red Sox team payroll is very close to TWICE that of the Baltimore Orioles', while the Yankees (or as I like to call them the Bankees) have roughly 2.5 times more of a payroll than the Orioles. Also, the Yankees have almost SIX times the payroll as the lowest payroll team, the Pittsburgh Pirates.

I know what most people are thinking. Money does not buy you World Series rings. I realize that. ANY TEAM can beat ANYONE at ANY TIME. But think about it this way. If two poker players started playing, one has 500 chips, and the other has 250 chips, who do you think is going to win the majority of the time? If you answered the guy with 250, you might wanna go get yourself tested. Sorry.

I realize that until Peter Angelos sells the team and we fire Andy MacPHAIL (you really think a guy with PHIAL in his name is going to succeed?), this team will continue to get gangbanged by the Bronx and Beantown. Heck, even Toronto was owning us. That's sad, especially after my article with my AL East predictions. But there is no denying the top-heaviness of the AL East at least somewhat contributes to this.

So what I am finally getting at here? Put a salary cap on baseball teams. It doesn't have to be much of a change. If you look at the NBA, it's pretty top heavy, but at least they all have close to the same payroll, somewhat. If they go over a certain limit, then they have to pay a tax. I think the Yankees can still win if there was a $150 million salary cap. At least, I think it would be a start.

This could make Padres, Pirates, and Marlins teams and fans pretty happy. It still could be unbalanced, but at least it would make it possible for the Yankees to not be able to outbid every team they wanted to get Albert Pujols, whose contract expires this year, or anybody else for that matter.

I know I am going to get some "Oh, quit whining. Your team sucks. Deal with it." bull-crap from Yankee fans and all that stuff. They're just bitter because they don't have the man-orbs to root for a team that struggles now and then. If you look at Yankees fans, guess who else they like? Duke basketball, Red Wings, Lakers, and the Patriots, or Cowboys. I feel like I am the only guy that only likes local teams anymore.

So I feel like I'm speaking for all the little people, the Blue Jays, the Padres, the Pirates, the Marlins, and the Royals when I say this. Let's stop the Bigs from being an auction house in which the one guy in the monocle always buys everything. Let's pull an Obama and "spread the wealth" a little bit.